Longitudinal Associations Between Depressive Symptoms and Preference for Solitude Among Chinese Early Adolescents: Separating Between-Person from Within-Person Effects

The goal of this study was to explore longitudinal associations between preference for solitude (PFS) and depressive symptoms among early adolescents in mainland China, with a focus on separating between-person and within-person effects using a random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM). Participants were N = 1039 Chinese early adolescents ( M age = 12.37, 46.1% girls, at Time 1), who completed annual self-reports of depressive symptoms and peer-nominations of PFS over a 3-years period. Results revealed that fluctuations in depressive symptoms consistently predicted fluctuations in PFS 1 year later, but not vice versa, supporting a symptoms-driven model. Findings are discussed in terms of the role of depressive symptoms in promoting subsequent PFS among early adolescents.